Global Youth Culture Essay

Culture obviously varies all around the world from country to country, but the basics are always the same. What makes up culture? Does culture change based on the age of the people or the different generations? Culture consists of language, entertainment through mediums such as music, movies, literature, etc. , fashion, art, food, and more. Culture most definitely changes depending on where you are in the world. For example, it can be as simple as spoken word. The language we speak here in American is vastly different then language spoken over in China or France, and that is one of the fundamental building blocks of culture differences. One thing that is really great and unique about the United States of America is that we have such a diverse mix of people and cultures. America has often been referred to as the â€Å"melting pot† because of the variety of people we have living here. Our culture as a nation has been shaped and molded from all of the people from other places in the world. As a young adult in America, I pay a lot of attention to many parts of our culture such as music, movies, books, and fashion. After exploring the web for blogs from different countries, I found that that doesn’t change throughout the globe. A twenty-year-old student that lives over in London, England is a lot more like me than you might guess. This one blog called â€Å"London Culture Blog† especially caught my attention. I stopped on this blog and started scrolling through some of the posts and realized that a lot of what they are talking about are things that my friends and I talk about too. This was pleasant surprise because ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to go to England and be just like the British. I thought it was so cool having an accent, wearing cute uniforms to school and having a leading royalty. Although that is still a dream I’ve yet to live out, it was really interesting looking at this blog and seeing that I’m not that far off. Some of the posts on the blog were about things that we talk about in America too, for instance, the movie/ musical Les Miserables as well as International superstar, Justin Bieber. It is very cool to me that there are those parts of our culture that is shared by people all over the world. I find it very comforting and interesting that I could be listening to a Bieber song at the same time as someone across the world. However, as to be expected, parts of the blogs were about artists I have never heard of, and those posts were just as fascinating. I found myself reading about a certain British musician and getting so intrigued that I had to go look up their music. I read a post about a young male musician named Jake Bugg. He was born and raised in England and his music often reflects that. The blogger said, â€Å"His influences stretch back 40 years – he’s got some of the basic song structures of early Beatles’ tracks and there’s more than a hint of the Bob Dylan troubadour style too. He also takes inspiration from the more recent generation of Britpop; at times, he sounds like an early, acoustic version of Oasis. † When I listened to some of his songs, they sound completely different than songs you would hear on everyday radio in America and that’s just because the difference of culture. In my opinion, British music is a lot more meaningful and deep and actually causes you to think and relate to the lyrics unlike some American music. Global youth culture around the world is a lot more similar than I thought I would find. I expected it to be a lot different but the fact is that we feed off each other. We use other cultures to constantly shape and change our own and vice versa. Whether it’s fashion, music, cuisine, or dance, we take ideas and use them to create a new addition to our culture. That’s what ties this whole world together and keeps us so connected.

Functional areas in Tesco and Oxfam Essay

1. Introduction In this report I am going to compare functional areas of two contrasting organisations Tesco and Oxfam. Tesco is aiming at achieving profit, investing and offerring services and products to customers.Oxfam is a non-profit organisation, helping people in crisis. Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, it has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in UK, where it has a market share of around 30%. Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organisations working in 90 countries worldwide to find solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. It helps to provide training, education and financial aid to people in developing countries and disaster areas. 2. Functional areas in organisations Functional area is a person, area or department which carries out a particular business function, for example, Administration, Customer Service, Distribution, Finance, Human Resources, ICT, Marketing, Sales, Production or Research and development. The main purpose of having functional areas in business is ensuring that all important activities are carried out efficiently and accurately. This is important if the business wants to achieve its aims and objectives; specific areas will be responsible for supporting specific types of aims and objectives, for example, sales and marketing will be involved in developing new markets or increasing sales, finance would be monitoring and keeping costs low to improve profitability. 2.1.Functional areas of Tesco The main activities of Finance department are: †¢recording all the business transactions (expences and incomings) †¢measuring the financial performance of Tesco (how well or badly Tesco is doing financially) †¢controlling the finances and cash flow so the company  stays reliable (ensuring that there is enough money to pay off debts, bills, employees, as well as invest in new developments to gain more profit) †¢taking timely financial decisions by comparing the predicted performance with actual performance (they would do this by comparing the financial situation from previous years with todays situation) Human resources: †¢recruiting, selecting, training and developing new staff †¢keeping all records they have in their possesion confidential (obligation to stand by Data Protection Act) †¢they look after an emploee whilst they work in the company (training, development and promotion) Marketing: †¢Marketing Research – collecting data from surveys and questionnaires, preparing presentations informing about new developments †¢Customer Care and Services – deals with complaints and problems they have, evaluating service, revieving competitors, recommending improvements †¢Sales Promotion and Advertising – making sure that promotions are clear and understandable for customers Production: †¢responsible for making services that are provided by Tesco (offices, vehicles, retailing products) †¢responsible for delivering the products to customers †¢ensuring that there is enough stock available ( that is supported by new technology, for example EPOS system, which will automatically re-order if Tesco is out-of-stock) Administration department: †¢creates an ordered way of working which enables the busines to function smoothly †¢brings together the various parts of the business so they can all work towards achieving the same goals †¢ensures good communication between the management and workers †¢all the methods and procedures should be written down in case staff is beeing changed †¢proper procedures for controlling and monitoring work – high level of supervision and  well-motivated staff 2.2. Functional areas of Oxfam The Global Ambassadors have been campaigning around the world on behalf of Oxfam. They propagate the knowledge about the issues like, for example, climate change, conflict resolution, women’s rights, international arms trade treaty, and others. Among the Oxfams Global Abassadors are for example: †¢Annie Lennox – she lent her support as the voice for TV adverts for the campaign following the 2012 earthquake in Haiti, she also works hard on AIDS and women’s issues, she also set up „The Circle† – a group of influential women who come together to connect with women living in poverty around the world, †¢Coldplay, they donated acoustic version of theuir song for a new Oxfam campaign video, perform concerts for Oxfam, drawn enormous attention to the Make Trade Fair campaign ( supports poor people affected by unfair trade rules), †¢Colin Firth, his work ia wide-ranging, he has helped highlight issues, speaks to the media and wright articles, hosts fundraising events in USA and Italy, †¢Helen Mirren supports Control Arms campaign, travelled to South Africa to meet victims of domestic violenceand firearms crimes and Uganda to highlight the civil war there and push for peaceful solution, †¢Scarlett Johansson, she is a part of „We Can† campaign, which aims to break down attitudes that support violence against women, she also supports GROW campaign (fighting world hunger) and Haiti Earthquake Appeal, also designed a handbag for Mango on behalf of Oxfam to raise money for the appeal. Executive Director Winnie Byanyima appointed in May 2013) provides strategic guidance, support, expertise and coordination across the global organisation. Through its 17 affiliates , oxfam works with people in over 90 countries to provide humanitarian relief in crisis, empower poor and marginalised people to gain social and economic equality. Working with thousands of local partner organisations, Oxfam International works with people living in poverty striving to exercise their human rights and take control of their lives. They focus their efforts in these areas: †¢Development – they work with and through partners and communities on long-term programmes to eradicate poverty and combat justice †¢Emergencies –  deliver immediate life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters or conflict †¢Campaigning – raise public awerness of the causes of poverty and encourage ordinary people to take action †¢Advocacy – press decision-makers to change policies and practices that reinforse poverty and injustice †¢Policy research – speak with authority as a result of research and analysis, and the real experience of the partners in developing countries Oxfam GB (one of the affiliates of Oxfam International) has a wide range of policy, programme and research staff, whose shared expertise ranges from public health engineering to lobbying international institusions for change: †¢Oxfams Advocacy advisers work to change public policies and practices in ways that will have a positive impacton poor people’s lives. Advocacy can take place at a variety of levels from local communities through to international institutions, and include the variety of methods including lobbying, media work, popular campaigning and changing public attitudes †¢Oxfam’s humanitarian personnel are responsible for a wide range of activities, including advising Oxfam’s international regions on humanitarian response, building regional capacity to respond to emergencies, leading programme development work on key areas such as WASH, public health, food security, HIV and AIDS, protection, gender, and preparedness. They also deliver advocacy on humanitarian issues in developed countries and provide security management advice †¢Programme Implementation – Oxfam’s country and regional staff work with the programme policy advisers to implement our programmes in more than sixty countries. Programme staff work with local partners to develop, implement and evaluate a variety of initiatives, offering a range of support through training and capacity-building, networking with other similar organisations, and financial support †¢Programme Policy – Oxfam’s collective wealth of expertise and knowledge includes development professionals, who provide global advisory support to Oxfam’s large number of projects and programmes across more than sixty countries.Programme policy advisers assist in improving the coherence, quality, and impact of Oxfam’s programmes and ensure that we learn from good and innovative work through facilitating programme-focused learning processes and resources †¢Research enables Oxfam to look ahead and plan strategically for a fast-changing context. It sharpens and underpins the credibility of Oxfam’s campaigns and helps us design, monitor and assess the  impact of our country-level programmes.Oxfam’s global researchers lead on researching and writing policy papers and campaign reports, keep abreast of new ideas that may feed into future policies or advocacy work or shape our programme thinking, and build Oxfam’s research capacity and quality †¢Oxfam’s Senior Management staff are responsible for ensuring the quality, effectiveness, and accountability of Oxfam’s portfolio of humanitarian, development, and campaigning work around the world Volunteers play a key role in helping Oxfam achieve its missions to reduce poverty and injustice around the world, they work throughout all the departments, they fulfill the variety of roles and tasks and they are significant part of every non-profit organisation. 3 Conclusion Despite many differences in functioning between Tesco and Oxfam (where Tesco works for profit and Oxfam is non-profit organisation) there are certain similar areas that ensure that organisation’s activities and tasks are completed properly. This is important for the business if its going to achieve its aims and objectives. So both of the organisations have: †¢IT staff, who deal with website, hardware and software problems, security and confidentiality issues, they are linked with HR department and Administration as most of the communication and storing data happens electronically †¢Marketing and Research who identifies and tries to meet customer needs, works on new solutions and developments †¢Sales team is responsible for direct contact with customers, they also are linked with Marketing and all kinds of advertising †¢Finance department looks at income and outgoings of the business, as well as fundraising and collecting money for various campaigns Tesco’s area is retail and maximasing profit, gaining new customers and keeping the existing ones, so the structure is streamlined and compact. Oxfam’s activities are much more varied, from gaining income from charity shops, concerts and events, through legal work that advocats do to change regulations, to hands on material help and organising rescue for people affected by natural disasters.

Can the animal testing done to find cures for diseases be done Essay

Can the animal testing done to find cures for diseases be done humanely or is it by nature inhumane - Essay Example animal testing because much more relaxed standards on what a researcher could do to his animal were in place that allowed for very torturous acts to be undertaken in the name of science. It is extreme cases like that which prompt modern opposition to animal testing. However, research institutions much more tightly regulate live animal testing today in order to protect the interests of animals when they are being tested, and there is no reason to believe that animal testing cannot be conducted in a humane fashion. Animal testing endures a great number of regulations in order to protect the interests of animals. At Stanford University, scientists adhere to the Animal Welfare Act and must submit proposals for how they will use their animals in experimentation. This requires a researcher to think beforehand about the best way to use his animal resources to achieve his intended outcome, and this allows other scientists to criticize that method if it is cruel. Scientists also sit down to discuss concepts of cruelty and the appropriate use of animals in a laboratory (Stanford News Service). With grant money depending on these scientists’ abilities to understand and apply these concepts of humane treatment, there is a strong incentive to treat animals with a measure of respect they have not been given in centuries prior. The Canadian Council on Animal Care proposes additional practical ways in which animal tested can be conducted humanely, summarized as the â€Å"three R’s† (CCAC). The first â€Å"R† refers to â€Å"replacement,† or the preferred use of an inanimate system or model instead of a live animal model. Cell and tissue cultures are sometimes even better than a full-scale live animal model because there are fewer variables to consider. â€Å"Reduction† is the second â€Å"R,† which means decreasing the number of animals used in experimentation. This is a good scientific practice anyway, regarding the number of confounding genetic variables that may arise in a

Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche - Essay Example Georg Wilhem Friedrich Hegel in his philosophy of world history expounds on the different types of history. The first is original history, which refers to the written historical account of the period in question (Hegel, Wood & Nisbet 1991). Reflective history is the second type, which is written after a certain period, based on the reflective thought and is laden with interpretation. Lastly, there is philosophic history, which tries to rationally interpret history. Through philosophic history, Hegel observes that world history is not guided by God’s plan rather it is through a rational process (Hegel, Wood & Nisbet, 1991). He expounds this in his Reason rules of history, which states that reason rules the world. Hegel’s philosophical history is based on that assumption; reason rules the world. Friedrich Nietzsche in his philosophy of history tries to explain, â€Å"how things become what they are†. His concern with history arises with its recording and emphasis by people who claim to represent the past. He opposes Hegel’s method of systemizing history and his adoption of teological themes (Mencken, 1993). In his opinion, history should be wholesome for future generations and its sole purpose is to influence the next generations. This purpose is not a choice rather it is a demand. Nietzsche is of the opinion that â€Å"the capacity to build a new future depends on our ability to see a fundamental continuity with the strengths of the past†. Kant’s moral theory states that freedom is not defined by the absence of law but being bound to laws one makes for himself (Höffe, 1994). His moral theory further states that rational human wills have freedom, that is they are autonomous. Freedom, according to Kant is autonomy where individuals lay their own laws that guide their actions. His view on individual freedom as being autonomous is derived from the

Explain the reasons why left realism emerged Essay - 1

Explain the reasons why left realism emerged - Essay Example eft realism emerged as a reaction to ‘law and order’ politics and to the perceived vacuum in radical left thinking on crime and crime control (Carrabine 79). Ideally, Left realism emanates from a situation that demonstrates the need to focus the social problems in the society. However, many scholars have been questioning the capacity of this theory to address societal problems (HistoryLearningSite 1). In its emergence, the theory of Left realism sought to address the reality of crime for the working class victim and the need to elaborate a socialist alternative to conservative emphases on law and order (Carrabine 79-80). In the mid-1980s, there was a common perception that the efficiency and effectiveness of the police, and criminal justice agencies were performance indicators of maximum crime arrests (Lea 141). However, the Left realism sought to correct this perception by noting that the flow of information about crime from victims and communities to the police, which was a matter of trust, was the key factor that would address crime in the society (Lea 142). This theory achieved this by noting that crime is intra-class and is rampant on poor communities (Lea 142). Indeed, the Left realism aimed at the practical experience of victimization in the poor and working class communities (Lea 142). Notably, the Left realism sought to criticize the views of right-realism that advocated for longer sentences and additional prisons (HistoryLearningSite 1) as the solution to rising crime rates (Lea 142). Indeed, the right-realism was actually not addressing crime in an effective manner and hence the Left realism sought to encourage socialists to address crime in a serious manner (Currie 114-117). During the emergence of the Left realism criminality among the working class was worsening as radical criminologists maintained the social constructionist view of crime and hence the need for the Left realism to curb the problem (Hale et al 86-87). As such, this theory sought

Road user charging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Road user charging - Essay Example has resulted in resistance from the public, for further increase in taxes.      Therefore the governments have considered various alternatives to meet this infrastructure cost, since the economic development of the country hinges on the development of the infrastructure.   There are various attributes to road transportation such as distance in traveling, size and weights of the vehicles and the loads the vehicle carry, parking, peak hour timings, types of fuel used, traffic level, etc.   Developments in technology in the meantime, made the measurement of the usage with reference to various attributes, easier.   The equipments made available to the transport development authorities, research in transport and logistics sector, development of Global Positioning System (GPS),use wireless data technology (GPRS), etc. have refined the system of measurement.   This gave way to a new system to charge based on the usage of highways by various categories of the vehicles.   The charges based on distances traveled are in vogue in many countries, as it is felt mor e relevant, easier to implement and control.   Establishment of toll gates and installation of new equipments and systems at the convenient entry points is also a part of the development.   Ã‚  Ã‚      A comprehensive study has been made with reference to levy of charges, the purpose of levy, its justifications and implications.   It is also to study the real intention of the government in introducing congestion area charging, and the efficacy of the scheme in addressing the needs or problems of the society, and to recommend the steps required to be taken to achieve the goal or objective.   Road use results in damage of the roads, congestions on account of traffic, pollution on account of emissions and accidents apart from normal wear and tear associated with the climatic conditions such as snow and rains. Pricing of road is a complex phenomenon.   Every form of

The Branches of Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Branches of Government - Essay Example The power of the federal government is divided among the three branches: the executive, judicial and legislative. Therefore, the separation of the powers has been done in a strict manner. Additionally, the power exercised by any of the three branches is limited in several ways through the powers provided to the other branches of the federal government; due to this, the standard of checks and balances has been established (Accountability in Government 9). One of the results of separating and allocating powers to different branches of the government is that it subjects the government to constant scrutiny, and, therefore, is subject to continued process of accountability (Accountability in Government 10). It is important to note that the Constitution does not have a direct provision that mandates the separation of powers among the three federal government branches. However, the doctrine of separation is critical to the United States government (â€Å"Separation of Powers of Government†). The separation and allocation of powers has ensured that no branch of the government has monopoly over the principle powers of the government. This has prevented the creation of a very strong government with the ability to overpower the individual state governments. Governmental responsibilities intentionally overlap. For instance, the president possesses the power to appoint all the federal ambassadors, judges, and other high-ranking government officials; however, all the appointments must have consent and advice of the Senate. The final authority is possessed by the Supreme Court, which can strike down the acts of the executive and the legislative branches as unconstitutional (Russell). Though the system has worked to some extent, there are exceptional cases where the presidents have done things that can be regarded as unconstitutional. Based on the Constitution, the president can only

The Euro Crises Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Euro Crises - Dissertation Example The availability of easy credit fuelled into the households and the financial sector. The Central bank of Europe managed the cross border lending. The bill of welfare took the upward rising curve when the level of unemployment deepened. Some of the countries had to launch upon in order to find money for their banks. The new expenses had to be borne by the state. The tax receipts collapsed as well. The rates of interest surged. It was assumed by the investors that no government of the Euro zone will default on account of debt before the crisis. Even some of the investors were asked to get rewarded for taking the extra risk while others walked away as they were unwilling to pay for credit crunch. All this led to bond prices to fall which weakened the banks and slowed down growth. The countries of Euro zone were following the unsustainable current account deficits from before the crisis. The domestic spending took the leap as the interest rate was low and wages and the goods got inflate d. This resulted in exports being costly while the imports being cheaper. Germany was recycling the surpluses that were produced by the export machines and financed their consumption. It was anticipated that restoring the continent to its health will take few years because the troubled countries required to control the deficits of the government and reestablish the current accounts so that to improve the competitiveness. A research on the topic will help to analyze the effects of the crisis and the required steps from the countries in order to avoid the crisis. The decreases in output as well as in employment were dampened by the fiscal policies during the periods of... This report stresses that the dent crisis points to a gap between the legal and political thinking in the euro area. The tension between the sovereignty and solidarity has been revealed by the crisis. The government of France acted defend claims regarding the fiscal sovereignty. It also acted to confine the management of the crisis to the intergovernmental rather than Community method. As a result the governments have sidelined the European parliament and decided to favor the European Council. The lessons that the crisis taught is if two folds. The intergovernmental method is not suited to the requirements of the decisive actions during the crisis and there is a mismatch between the speeds in decision making between the council and the markets. This type of problem is regarded as the problem of inter temporal inconsistency. The crisis brought the power realities of the emerging continent. This essay makes a conclusion that the negotiating power of UK also got limited because of the crisis in the Euro zone. The crisis raised the stakes of the European integration to new levels, as well as provided the incentives to move ahead by following the policies of differentiated integration in the reform process of tax and economic governance. The crisis also calls for political populism. The crisis highlighted the economic situation and the financial situation of UK relative to the core Euro countries like Germany. At the time of the establishment the Economic and Monetary Union was less economic than political project. The debt crisis cannot be attributed just as the crisis belonging to the peripheral countries of Europe. The rapid recapitalization of the banking sector of the continent will not be the solution of the crisis.

Examine the treatment of children and infant mortality from victorian Essay

Examine the treatment of children and infant mortality from victorian writers with special reference to Charles Kingsleys water babies and Thomas Hardys poem To an unborn pauper child - Essay Example In fact this period is also a time when infant mortality was high and the threat of mortality facing infants was 30 times worse compared to what it is today (Garrett, 2006, p.253). Carroll captures this nature of parenting explicitly through fairy tale world known as Wonderland. In the fiction, the characters of authority are shown to be funny and rather absurd at times. The paper undertakes the treatment of children and infant mortality by Victorian authors like Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hardy. Carroll’s work is still published as a children’s classic collection and loved by young and adults alike. Lear, a rival of Carroll also published his limericks, which criticizes the social code of behavior in the Victorian society. Like Carroll, Lear also puts forth certain inevitable violent ends of the characters. The White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland keeps on reminding the reader that it will be prone to losing its head if he is late to arrive at the Duchess’. (Charney, 2005, p.284) This also reveals the inevitability of social codes and none of the writers could escape that. The Duchess symbolize a typical strict parent of the Victorian age as she tosses her baby pig up into the air and sings the following lullaby to her son, ending every line with a rough shake to the baby: â€Å"Speak roughly to your little boy, And beat him when he sneezes: He only does it to annoy, Because he knows it teases† (Carroll, n.d., p.44). This is also a parody to the p oem of Bates â€Å"Speak Gently†. The story also shows the coming of age of the child Alice, as she tends to forget her nursery poems and finds the characters conversing in a language unknown to her. This introduces her to a whole new world when she resides at the crossing stage from childhood to adolescence. Charles Kingsley’s The Water-Babies is a fairy tale, which condemns child